1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fishing reel, and more particularly to a double-bearing type fishing reel including a drag control member disposed between a reel body side frame and a handle, with the drag control member being rotatable in unison with the handle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical conventional fishing reel of the above noted type is shown in FIG. 6. In this convention, a handle shaft S is rotatably supported via a stationary shaft G to a reel body side frame B which in turn rotatably supports a spool. A handle H is attached on the handle shaft S for transmitting a rotational drive force to the spool. The reel further includes a drag mechanism D having a plurality of drag braking plates disposed about the handle shaft S, so that the drag mechanism D may apply a braking force to the spool being rotated. For adjusting the braking force of this drag mechanism D, a drag control member A is screwed on the handle shaft S.
The drag control member A includes a cylindrical boss portion A1 screwed to a threaded portion N formed on a longitudinal end of the outer periphery of the handle shaft H and a plurality of control elements A2 projecting radially from the outer periphery of the boss portion A1. Further, between this drag control member A and the drag mechanism D, there are interposed a plurality of spacers C. In operation, with application of a manual rotational force, the drag control member A moves axially along the threaded portion N, thus adjusting the braking force of the drag mechanism D through the spacers C.
With the above-described manner of braking force adjustment, the axial movement of the drag control member A along the handle shaft S causes an axial gap between this drag control member A and the control handle S attached to the leading end of the handle shaft S, through which axial gap the threaded portion N of the handle shaft S becomes exposed to the ambience. And, any foreign substances such as water, dust or the like may easily come into contact with the exposed threaded portion N. This contact, if repeated and/or continued, will result in development of rust or accumulated adhesion of dust on the threaded portion N, thereby making the braking force adjustment through the drag control member A difficult or even impossible at all. Further, with the above-described convention, since the axial position of the drag control member A has to change with each braking force adjustment operation of the drag mechanism D by means of the drag control member A, a next adjustment operation tends to be troublesome.
With view to the above-described drawbacks of the convention, the primary object of the present invention is to provide an improvement over the convention, the improvement effectively preventing the occurence of axial gap between the drag control member and the handle associated with a rotational operation of the drag control member, the improvement also achieving great ease in operating the drag control member.